ChatGPT has been the subject of a lot of ink over the past few weeks. It is now important to take a step back to analyze the real impact of this content-generating technology.
Many actors have been working on it for a long time and are much more advanced than what we are witnessing now. Other disruptive technologies that are less well-known today are fast approaching and concern images, videos, sounds, satellites, among others.
A new sequence in the short history of artificial intelligence opens, marked by performance gains for organizations that deign to dive.
The field of intellectual creativity is thus entering a major transformation propelled above all by the potential of human innovation. Like the calculator in mathematics, generative artificial intelligence can replace humans for certain tasks such as reading, writing or simply having a conversation.
It will never completely replace human intelligence. It will above all increase its capacities thanks to the ingestion and the crossing of gigantic volumes of information and its capacities of synthesis.
This revolution is not going smoothly, because it forces us to keep in mind certain important issues related to the limits of technological advances, in particular the loss of traceability of sources, delayed time, errors of interpretation and cognitive biases of technology, difficult to correct.
Despite everything, we are collectively experiencing a real knowledge and knowledge revolution, justified by the number of areas affected and the intensity of the upheaval in supply and demand: education and continuing training, public policies and even geopolitical relations.
The cost of these technologies is already not a barrier to entry, and this cost will decrease over time. There will be no monopoly. Investments will flow freely: to return to the example of the calculator, which government or which company could do without artificial intelligence?
At the same time, we would not accept that the calculator give an erroneous result half the time. And this is where some companies and organizations might be hesitant to get in on the action. The crucial issue of precision requires regulation and an AI code of ethics, which will prove complex in a global context.
Deployments at scale will require a lot of funding from the tech industry to achieve the highest standards of precision and accuracy. Tens of billions will be invested in this way. The head-to-head battle between all the major technology players already established has only just begun and regulators will not be able to block acquisitions or alliances.
Data lakes
The pace and manner in which this technology will be adopted will have to be monitored. Over the next few months, we will see concretely how it fits into our daily lives.
This veritable new cognitive paradigm in the world of work will have two major consequences. The first concerns computer code. Some estimate that programming productivity could be multiplied by 10, generating incredible momentum in accelerating digitization and in the deployment of metaverses.
The second transformation is that of the work revolution by the addition of a series of new functionalities in office automation and telework. Let us think for example of the functions of summary, automatic generation of table of contents or editorial autocompletion. The productivity gains are therefore enormous.
Each company will launch its strategies of Small Data facing big data. Indeed, without enough internal data, it is impossible to use the power of ChatGPT-type models by influencing them enough to adjust them with the necessary level of expertise and context, in fields as diverse as products, l customer experience, logistics, human resources or even legal matters. Data lakes will finally find critical new outlets, leaving companies that don’t have them far behind.
For companies, and possibly everyone, to really take full advantage of this technological revolution, the mobilization of society as a whole will be necessary. In particular, governments will have to drastically accelerate technological and economic accessibility to internet and cellular services.
For a country like Canada, it is no longer a question of having access to high speed, it is time to break down the barriers that hinder many communities in accessing the latest technologies.
This revolution is also that of future generations. Our young people will have to be introduced to the phenomenal power of artificial intelligence and made aware of its darker sides as soon as they arrive at school. These upheavals will affect us all on a more or less large scale, but will certainly require increased vigilance and adaptive legislation to limit excesses while propelling the universe of possibilities.